Bubble Gum
by One More Disaster
Summary: "Taste the Rainbow" 'verse. A collection of character study oneshots about the Pink Rangers, an episode at a time.


**Title: **Bubble Gum  
**Disclaimer: **I do not own any person, place or thing you may recognize.  
**Rating: **T  
**Warnings: **Ranger related violence; language; canonical character death (eventually, for _Lost Galaxy)  
_**Series: **Taste the Rainbow  
**Characters: **Kimberly Hart, Katherine Hillard, Cassie Chan, Kendrix Morgan, Karone, Dana Mitchell, Jen Scotts, A-Squad Pink (SPD), Sydney Drew, Vida Rocca, Rose Ortiz, Mia Watanabe and Emma Goodall; with mentions of and appearances by the various other Rangers, Mentors, Allies, Civilians and Villains  
**Spoilers: **eventual for all 20 seasons  
**Author's Note: **So, this is part of an idea that I had a while ago to write an episode tag oneshot with a focus on each of the Rangers. This particular piece will focus on the Pink Rangers.

Let me know what y'all think.

Fae

* * *

**Title: **Day of the Dumpster  
**Character: **Kimberly Hart  
**Word Count: **973  
**Author's Note: **So, I have a picture that I based the Treehouse off of over on my photobucket account, which is the same username as here, OneMoreDisaster. I can't figure out how to make the link work, unfortunately. Anyway, the picture I used for the Treehouse isn't exact, but it gives you a general idea, if you're interested in looking. Both of the main towers are two stories tall. The one on the left has a deck on the first floor. The smaller tower attached to it goes up a little higher, with a small balcony attached to it. The connecting bridge between the two parts is off the deck I added instead of where it is currently.

Kim sat through a silent dinner, for once ignoring the growing tensions between her parents. Normally, she would be chattering on about whatever had caught her attention that day to keep the dinner from being too awkward.

Tonight, however, she had other things on her mind and there was no way she could talk about it with her parents. Not that they would notice, of course. Too busy glaring at each other over some perceived fault or another.

Still, she had promised and she always kept her promises. Not to mention the fact that Zordon obviously had faith in her. She wasn't sure how she felt about that. No one had had that sort of faith in her for many years.

No one except Jason, of course, but he didn't count. He was _Jason_.

Why would this- inter-dimensional being trapped in a time warp have such faith in her? He didn't even _know_ her.

She didn't know how to deal with this. She needed to talk to someone about this. She needed-

She needed the Treehouse.

She went through the motions of cleaning the dishes and finishing her homework before changing into a pair of pajamas and one of Jason's old sweatshirts and climbing out her window onto the back porch roof. She climbed down the trellis and made her way back to the treehouse at the back of the yard.

They called it a treehouse. Really, it was so much more than that. It was a work of art, and more importantly, it was an escape.

There were three separate treehouses- the Outpost, the Castle and the Pirate Ship- which were connected by rope bridges. The first two were in Kim's backyard, while the latter was in Jason's. The Outpost had been there for years, well before her parents had bought the house, according to them. The Castle had been built by her dad and uncle on three large trees, stretching out over the ravine that separated the two yards. The Pirate Ship had started out as a simple platform, but had been expanded as Jason grew older and included a Captain's Cabin, Bridge and three Crows' nests.

Their parents had been a little wary about building the bridge across the ravine, but they had eventually given in. It had been hard to argue with providing them a way to get to each other's house without their parents needing to drive them three miles north or five to the south to use one of the bridges. It hadn't made any sense to the two children, when they could shout to each other across the ravine from their respective treehouses.

She was glad for it now. She needed Jason and it was too late on a school night for her parents to drive her over there.

She climbed into the Outpost, pulling the ladder up behind her before crossing to the Castle. She debated staying on the Terrace, but decided she was feeling more like a pirate than a princess at the moment, so she crossed the bridge over to the Ship.

She went up to the Bridge and lay down on her back, staring up at the sky. She hadn't been up there long when Jason joined her, not saying anything as he lay down beside her. The two best friends lay there in silence for a while before Kim spoke up.

"Why us?" she asked.

"I don't know," he replied. "But he must have had a reason."

"Do you think we can really do it? It's a big responsibility."

"It is. But we'll be making a difference. Just think of it like one of those community service projects you love so much."

"Yeah," she agreed. "Why me? Why did he single me out? Why not you? You're the leader."

"He must have been very fond of that girl he said you reminded him of. And he did have words for me, too."

"Only because you insisted on staying with me."

"Like you said, I'm the leader. He had to know there was no way I was letting you stay behind with a pair of strangers, even if one of them was a robot and the other was a giant floating head."

"My knight," she said, turning her head to smile at him.

"Anything for my princess," he said, sending her a smile of his own.

They lapsed back into silence and lay there for another ten minutes or so.

"It's going to be hard, isn't it? Time consuming. We'll have to learn how to balance our new responsibilities with school and gymnastics and karate, and any other responsibilities we have."

"Not to mention making sure our parents don't find out," Jason added. "That's going to be the hardest part, I think. We've always been good at juggling school and outside activities. This whole Power Ranger thing will just be another outside activity. The hardest part is going to be keeping our parents from getting suspicious of us disappearing. We'll have to come up with excuses or alibis or something."

"We could always start spending more time at Billy's. You know how easily Mr. Cranston loses track of time. He wouldn't know when exactly we were there."

"Maybe. We'll have to talk to the others about it."

"Yeah."

The lights on Jason's back porch flashed, the signal that it was time for them to head inside.

Jason helped her to her feet, then walked her back to the Outpost.

"Night, Jason," she said, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"Night, Princess."

He kissed the top of her head before she climbed down the ladder and she knew that he would stand there watching until she made it inside. She paused in the doorway and waved back into the darkness, then closed the door and turned off the lights, heading up to bed.


End file.
